Help! external hard drive lost photos (Page 2): One of my externals has been suddenly disappearing lately. I do as has been mentioned and turn computer off then back on. If it doesn't...

ncshutterbug

One of my externals has been suddenly disappearing lately. I do as has been mentioned and turn computer off then back on. If it doesn't come back I unplug the drive from the back of it,re-plug it and turn off computer. It works so far but I'm getting very concerned about it doing that. I do have photos backed up on another external. Neither is anywhere full. I have 2 older computers that work fine so I may back up to them as well just in case.

EstherP

ygelman wrote:

I just looked. Looks great for PCs, but is there anything like it for Macs??

By the way, the advice at the site implies you should download onto hard drive before anything goes wrong so that downloading does not cause any further overwrites.

Yes, it's called a back-up ;-))
Many people on the Hog have not just one, but two, three and sometimes even more back-ups. But sometimes things can go wrong while transferring photos from camera or card to the hard drive. Reason I never CUT and paste, but always COPY and paste from the card to the computer, then inspect the files on the HD, copy to one external drive, and only then reformat the card in-camera again. Then, when I get to my son's place, I also copy the images to the external drive I keep there.
(I used to drag my laptop there to do that, but since I have a tablet, I use their computer and dropbox to transfer to the external).
EstherP

EstherP

ncshutterbug wrote:

One of my externals has been suddenly disappearing lately. I do as has been mentioned and turn computer off then back on. If it doesn't come back I unplug the drive from the back of it,re-plug it and turn off computer. It works so far but I'm getting very concerned about it doing that. I do have photos backed up on another external. Neither is anywhere full. I have 2 older computers that work fine so I may back up to them as well just in case.

NC, Correct me if I'm wrong, but by "disappearing" I take it you mean that the computer doesn't see the drive any longer, and the icon is gone?
NC, do you have another cable for the "disappearing" drive? If so, try that and see what happens.
If it is a regular size external, and you're handy with a screwdriver, you could take the drive out of the case, and hook up inside your computer... but I wouldn't try that if you've never done or seen it done before.
With the smaller, "portable" external drives, I wouldn't try to open the case, as I have no idea what it looks like inside.
But, try another cable first, if you can. Also make sure the cable is seated properly at both ends. If you have more than one USB port on your computer, you could try another port as well.
EstherP

Old Redeye Loc: San Mateo, CA

Christine105 wrote:

No, because they weren't on the hard drive in the computer, they were on an external hard disk that doesn't via the recycle bin.

All fixed now.

What did you end up doing to fix it?

ncshutterbug

EstherP wrote:

NC, Correct me if I'm wrong, but by "disappea... (show quote)

You are correct, Esther. The computer doesn't recognize it and the icon goes. It is a "portable" and I have another identical but smaller capacity. I will try your advice about the cables but am too chicken to open it up. I once added extra memory to a computer and got through it but it sure made me nervous! I did unplug and re-plug the usb a couple of times. Thanks for the advice! As a last resort I will take it in to be checked.

ygelman Loc: new -- North of Poughkeepsie!

ncshutterbug wrote:

One of my externals has been suddenly disappearing lately. I do as has been mentioned and turn computer off then back on. If it doesn't come back I unplug the drive from the back of it,re-plug it and turn off computer. It works so far but I'm getting very concerned about it doing that. . .

This sometimes happens to me with some flash drives...the indicator lights up but it's missing in the list of connected devices. So I remove it and re-insert it with a slightly stronger push.

So, if changing the cable is an option, then do it. Otherwise, push harder. :?

cygone Loc: Boston

I personally like the WD 2tb at Amazon for about $117.00. BluRay media is good too. We're glad you got it fixed.

cygone Loc: Boston

ncshutterbug wrote:

One of my externals has been suddenly disappearing lately. I do as has been mentioned and turn computer off then back on. If it doesn't come back I unplug the drive from the back of it,re-plug it and turn off computer. It works so far but I'm getting very concerned about it doing that. I do have photos backed up on another external. Neither is anywhere full. I have 2 older computers that work fine so I may back up to them as well just in case.

I'm betting you it's just a cable. Experiment with different cables from other devices. I've had loose cables before.

billgdyoung Loc: Big Bear City, CA

For future... consider using Carbonite.com... $60/yr... backsup to cloud if you have constant internet connection... restore from/to anywhere. The initial backup will take a couple of days, but thereafter the backup will seem transparent.

jimmyh1 Loc: Montana

I had what I thought was an external hard drive failure. It turned out to be the little module in the external hard drive that "talks" to the computer. I bought a new external hard drive case and had the repairmen put the drive into the new case. Problem solved. I also now use 2 external hard drives and duplicate all photos to both.

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

Christine105 wrote:

Can anyone help me. I have just lost every photo for 2013 that was on an external hard drive.

I tried to open the drive and it looks like I have accidently hit the delete button (don't remember doing that though) and deleted every photo from this year. I do not have another copy of any of them.

Can anyone suggest how I can retrieve these photos? They are not in my recycle bin.

Thanks Christine

I recently had the same scare on an external drive. What I found, and you can easily check this, I somehow moved my photo file into another folder so it showed up as a sub folder under another folder.

In explore I looked at every file on that drive and eventually found it hiding under, as I mentioned, another folder. This may be your case, may not be but try it... it can't hurt.

bunuweld Loc: Arizona

ygelman wrote:

I just looked. Looks great for PCs, but is there anything like it for Macs??

By the way, the advice at the site implies you should download onto hard drive before anything goes wrong so that downloading does not cause any further overwrites.

There is at least one recovery program for Mac:

http://www.macintosh-data-recovery.com/?gclid=CLuMqNLIgLoCFaU9QgodBVsA3g

I've heard of it, but luckily never have needed to try it. I assume that you have one or more duplicate backups in your Mac, and Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery is supposed to work on those Mac storage devices as well.

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

JR1 wrote:

They are still there they are NOT lost, calm down and breath.

DO NOTHING, scan NOTHING.

Download and run

Pandora recovery.

http://www.pandorarecovery.com/

"scanning" will fix errors and play with the sectors, do nothing, run Pandora recovery or PM me

I have been into IT for 40 years

Or download Recuva for free which also finds anything lost on any drive. I've never been in IT and don't want to be.

Kalina54 Loc: Flagstaff, AZ

Christine...I am very happy for you that you were able to recover your files..Losing them even momentarily if an awful feeling..

Christine105 wrote:

No, because they weren't on the hard drive in the computer, they were on an external hard disk that doesn't via the recycle bin.

All fixed now.

OonlyBonly

I suggest IsoBuster. It's designed specifically your problem.